Automatic meter reading (AMR) systems are generally known in the art. Utility companies, for example, use AMR systems to read and monitor customer meters remotely, typically using radio frequency (RF) communication. AMR systems are favored by utility companies and others who use them because they increase the efficiency and accuracy of collecting readings and managing customer billing. For example, utilizing an AMR system for the monthly reading of residential gas, electric, or water meters eliminates the need for a utility employee to physically enter each residence or business where a meter is located to transcribe a meter reading by hand.
There are several different ways in which current AMR systems are configured. In a fixed network, endpoint devices at meter locations communicate with readers that collect readings and data using RF communication. There may be multiple fixed intermediate readers, or relays, located throughout a larger geographic area on utility poles, for example, with each endpoint device associated with a particular reader and each reader in turn communicating with a central system. Other fixed systems utilize only one central reader with which all endpoint devices communicate. In a mobile environment, a handheld unit or otherwise mobile reader with RF communication capabilities is used to collect data from endpoint devices as the mobile reader is moved from place to place.
AMR systems generally include one-way, one-and-a-half-way, or two-way communications capabilities. In a one-way system, an endpoint device periodically turns on, or “bubbles up,” to send data to a receiver. One-and-a-half-way AMR systems include receivers that send wake-up signals to endpoint devices that in turn respond with readings. Two-way systems enable command and control between the endpoint device and a receiver/transmitter.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,914,673 to Jennings et al., for example, relates to an AMR system of the type used for reading utility meters by using a fixed RF network. The system disclosed by Jennings et al. is a network comprised of multiple cells, with each cell containing a single data concentrator unit and a typically large number of meter interface units. In operation, each meter interface unit is assigned a unique time displacement number and responds to a meter reading request from a data concentrator unit based upon its time displacement number.
Current automatic meter reading (AMR) systems are significantly limited in the information that can be obtained from the meter. Generally the AMR system comprises a reader and an endpoint that is interfaced to a meter. In a typical system, the endpoint obtains the consumption reading from the meter and then bubbles up every few seconds to send that consumption reading, via RF signal, to the reader. Alternatively, the endpoint receives a wake-up tone from the reader that prompts the endpoint to send the consumption reading to the reader.
All that is obtained from this configuration is a single consumption reading from the meter and that reading is based on what meter register the endpoint was programmed with initially at the factory.
Another challenge is that many utility operators use a mixed implementation of one-way, one-and-a-half-way, and two-way modes of communications. Changing needs or standards in the industry often require a utility operator to standardize on one particular mode of communication system. In addition, implementation of the different modes of communications varies throughout the world. In order to migrate from one mode of communications system to another, a reprogramming or reconfiguring cycle is required, which typically requires an expensive and time-consuming site visit.
There is, therefore, a need in the industry for an AMR system that addresses the above described problems or challenges in that there is a need for an AMR system that enables the user of the system to have more access to and more control over the information that the meter and endpoint can provide and that can migrate between one-way, one-and-a-half-way, and two-way communication modes without requiring a reprogramming.